Real Monsters | What is known about the gruesome Jacobs family murders in Land Park

The gruesome 1991 killing of a family in Land Park remains unsolved.

Author:
Chelsea Shannon

Published:
3:48 PM PST March 8, 2019

Updated:
4:46 PM PDT March 13, 2019

SACRAMENTO, California — The mystery of who killed the Jacobs Family in their Upper Land Park home remains unsolved.

Twenty-eight years have come and gone since Jan. 14 1991, the date the family was found brutally slain. Here is what is known so far:

The Family

The family many coworkers, friends, and neighbors considered "average, normal," lived on the quiet street of Robertson Way, west of Riverside Boulevard.

Robertson Way in 2019

ABC10 KXTV

Michael Jacobs, 33, worked as a contractor. Marcy, 31, is wife, was employed as an analyst for the Bureau of Criminal Identification at the State of California Department of Justice. Jennifer, 9, was a fourth-grade student at Crocker-Riverside Elementary School.

Who were the Jacobses?

Michael and Marcy Jacobs on their wedding day.

Marcy Jacobs on a tropical trip.

Michael Jacobs on a tropical trip.

Jennifer Jacobs holding stuffed animals.

One of the Jacobs' dogs in a laundry basket.

01/05

Michael and Marcy Jacobs on their wedding day.

02/05

Marcy Jacobs on a tropical trip.

03/05

Michael Jacobs on a tropical trip.

04/05

Jennifer Jacobs holding stuffed animals.

05/05

One of the Jacobs' dogs in a laundry basket.

The Crime

Michael Jacobs' body was found near an open safe with fatal gunshot wounds to his head. His body was found in the garage, which was not attached to the home.

Marcy Jacobs was found in the bathroom. Police said that she appeared to have moved there from the living room where a portion of her jaw was shot off. During the attack, Marcy Jacobs also was slashed and stabbed with a sharp object.

Jennifer Jacobs was found in her room, holding her teddy bear, dead from a gunshot wound to the head, said Dick Woods, a former homicide detective with the Sacramento Police Department.

Next to Michael Jacobs was an open safe. Police said the safe contained weapons and imprints of something heavy that could have been gold and or stacks of cash. The safe was owned by Richard Michael McCarthy, one of Michael Jacobs' friends. McCarthy went missing weeks before the Jacobs family was killed.

McCarthy had previously served a sentence of 120 days in the Yolo County Jail.

The Jacobs were found to have had low levels of methamphetamine in their system after the coroner performed their autopsies. Police said that the amount of the drug in their system, and the lack of evidence in the home, points to the conclusion that the Jacobs were not regular users of methamphetamine.

Investigators believe the safe was the target of the crime, and that the Jacobs were killed for it. No one has ever been arrested in connection to the killings.

Who is trying to solve it?

Detectives and Sacramento Police on the scene of the Jacobs Family Murder.

ABC10 KXTV

Back in 1991, the lead detective on the case was Ken Walker. Other detectives on the case included John Cabrera, Joe Enloe, Bob Mitchell, and Dick Woods. The case is still cold, and the Sacramento Police Department is still working to solve this homicide.